Former NIAID Official Refuses to Answer Questions on FOIA Controversy

Former National Institutes of Health (NIH) employee Margaret Moore declined to answer questions from Fox News and invoked her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination during a deposition before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Moore, a former FOIA public liaison for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has been accused of assisting others in shielding emails from the public.

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Former NIAID Official Refuses to Answer Questions on FOIA Controversy

Former National Institutes of Health (NIH) employee Margaret Moore refused to answer questions from Fox News' Chad Pergram ahead of her deposition before the House COVID-19 subcommittee. Moore, a former FOIA public liaison for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), also declined to answer questions from Fox News in the hallway before the committee meeting.

The committee on Monday issued a subpoena for Moore to appear.

Former NIAID Official Refuses to Answer Questions on FOIA Controversy

"Instead of using NIH’s FOIA office to provide the transparency and accountability that the American people deserve, it appears that ‘FOIA Lady’ Margaret Moore assisted efforts to evade federal recordkeeping laws," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup from Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee.

He added, "Her alleged scheme to help NIH officials delete COVID-19 records and use their personal emails to avoid FOIA is appalling and deserves a thorough investigation."

Former NIAID Official Refuses to Answer Questions on FOIA Controversy

Moore's legal team has defended her right to abstain from testifying, claiming that the former NIH employee has been willing to aid the investigation via alternative means.

"Ms. Moore has cooperated with the Select Subcommittee through counsel to find an alternative to her sitting for an interview, including expediting her own FOIA request for her own documents, which she provided to the Select Subcommittee voluntarily," her legal team wrote.

Former NIAID Official Refuses to Answer Questions on FOIA Controversy

Moore worked for NIAID for over three decades and at one point served as a special assistant to Dr. Anthony Fauci. She is accused of teaching "tricks" to other members of NIAID to hide records and evade FOIA requests.

"I learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after I am foia’d but before the search starts," Fauci senior advisor Dr. David Morens wrote in an email sent from his personal Gmail account in Feb. 2021. "Plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail."

The materials sought by the COVID subcommittee would provide insight into the NIH's relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, commonly believed to have been the origin of the coronavirus in 2019.

Other emails obtained from May 2021 show the NIH general counsel warning the FOIA office "not release anything having to do with EcoHealth Alliance/WIV," with "WIV" referring to the Wuhan Institute.

The House COVID-19 subcommittee is investigating whether Moore's actions violated federal laws and regulations. The subcommittee has subpoenaed Moore's emails and other documents, and it is expected to continue its investigation.

Moore's refusal to answer questions on the FOIA controversy has raised concerns about the transparency and accountability of the NIH. The committee's investigation is expected to shed light on the extent to which NIH officials may have engaged in misconduct.